Knightsbridge Living

Lighting

Candles

Originally lighting could only be provided by a burning torch or candles. Candles were usually made from mutton fat. Beeswax was reserved for religious use.

Oil lamps

In the 1780s oil came into use. But oil lamps became popular mainly in the 1860s when paraffin was invented which made lighting more economical.

The colza-oil lamp

In 1783 a Swiss inventor, Francois Ami Argand, invented what was called a colza-oil lamp which burned rapeseed oil, which produced ten times as much light as a candle. This dramatically changed the ability of people being able to read and write after dark. The basic process was elaborated so that even chandeliers could be produced. The only problem with it was that the oil was thick and required a cumbersome mechanism to force it up the cotton wick.

Coal gas

In the 1780s coal gas came into use. The first public gas lights in London were installed in 1803 in Pall Mall. The new coal gas lighting required pipes. Sometimes the pipes leaked, and entire facades of houses were blown into the streets. Because it was so dangerous, it was not much used inside houses until the 1890s, when the incandescent mantle was invented.